UPDATE: As a result of a joint investigation between the Isle of Wight County Sheriff’s Office and the Southampton County Sheriff’s Office, two people were arrested and charged for the thefts.
Christopher Funai, 39 was charged with eight counts of Grand Larceny and two counts of Larceny with intent to Sell or Distribute.
Herbert Worrell, 36, was charged with eight counts of Conspiracy to Commit Larceny.
Previously:
Isle of Wight Co., Va. – Eight commercial mowers were stolen Monday, May 26th from a storage location belonging to Walters Outdoor Power Equipment at 27739 Walters Highway in Isle of Wight County, according to the Isle of Wight County Sheriff’s Office.
The mowers are worth over $45,000.
The owner of the company, Hubert T. Herrala, Jr. drove past the storage area on Monday afternoon around 2:00 p.m. and didn’t notice anything wrong.
Early Tuesday morning, Herrala noticed the mowers were missing and notified the sheriff’s office.
Herrala and a deputy that responded found that the fence had been cut on the north end of the field along the wood line.
Video surveillance shows what appears to be a dark-colored Dodge truck pulling a trailer with a mower on it. A witness said a suspicious truck was seen in the nearby cemetery around 5:20 a.m.
The Sussex County Sheriff’s Office investigated a similar larceny less than 2 days before in Wakefield when James River Equipment had six mowers stolen. It is unknown if the two larcenies are connected.
